Security chief quits OLPC amid restructuring

A drastic internal restructuring underway at the One Laptop Per Child Project has caused a director of security to resign from the nonprofit effort.
Citing differences with OLPC's aims and shift of focus, Director of Security Architecture Ivan Krstic resigned from his post three weeks ago, Krstic revealed in a blog entry this week.

"I cannot subscribe to the organization's new aims or structure in good faith, nor can I reconcile them with my personal ethic. Having exhausted other options, three weeks ago I resigned my post at OLPC," Krstic said.

The MIT Technology Review named Krstic one of the world's top innovators under the age of 35 for his work on the OLPC security platform, Bitfrost.

In an interview with BusinessWeek in early March, OLPC Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said OLPC was operating "almost like a terrorist group, doing almost impossible things," and that the organization needed to be managed "more like Microsoft."

Negroponte said OLPC was searching for a new CEO and reorganizing departments into four operating units -- technology, deployment, market development, and fundraising and administration.

Calling OLPC "more a second home than a workplace," Krstic said he had been asked to stop working with OLPC President of Software and Content Walter Bender, whom he highly respected. "I was to report instead to a manager with no technical or engineering background who was put in charge of all OLPC technology," Krstic said.

OLPC did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. The group has been dogged by problems since it launched the effort to develop a US$100 XO laptop for children in developing countries three years ago. It has struggled to realize the ambitious vision, facing delays, rising costs and reduced orders.

In January, OLPC lost Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen, who started an organization to commercialize parts of the OLPC's technology, including the screen and battery. A few days later, Intel said it was quitting OLPC after the nonprofit insisted that Intel abandon its effort to develop and distribute Classmate PC, a rival low-cost laptop. OLPC later said that it would welcome Intel back to the effort.